Generally, punctuation is ignored, including @#$%^&*()=+[]\ and other special characters.

Quotes or no Quotes:

Putting quotes around a set of words instructs the searchto look for matches containing that exact phrase.

A set of words with no quotes instructs the search to look for matches where the specifiedwords exist anywhere.

A search for the phrase: "wood handbook" will return results different from a search for the two words: wood handbook

Searching by an individual's name:

If looking for publications authored by an individual, it is recommended specifying just their last name, leaving out their first name and middle initial. Also use the "Simple publication search" option which will guide the search to look at specific meta-tags.

A search for "Cullen, Daniel" will return different results from "Cullen, Dan"